The Writings of Lyle F. Bachman: Assuring That What We Count Counts in Language Assessment

As one of the most recognized names in the fields of language assessment and applied linguistics, Lyle F. Bachman has produced a high volume of scholarly articles and books in the field of language assessment. These writings have strongly influenced the discipline and over the last three decades have played an uncontested role in shaping the field as we know it today. Until now, Bachman’s work has been spread across various mediums and not existed in one place. The Writings of Lyle F. Bachman is the first book to assemble Bachman’s work into a single, comprehensive volume.

The collection is composed of seven major sections, each beginning with an introduction by the editors to provide context for the papers. The sections cover some of the most complex topics in the field, including validity and validation, the effects of test task characteristics, interfaces between language testing and second language acquisition, and epistemological issues in applied linguistics. The collection concludes with a state-of-the art paper and insightful reflections about the field of language assessment. The collection traces how Bachman’s ideas and research insights have evolved throughout the years.

Given Bachman’s strong impact on the field of language assessment, this volume presents not only a collection of the writings, but also gives an overview of the ongoing issues and debates in the field. This book will be useful to both researchers and graduate students in the areas of language assessment and applied linguistics.

James Enos Purpura is Professor Emeritus of linguistics and education in the Applied Linguistics and TESOL Program and Director of the Scenario-Based Language Assessment Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. His scholarly interests include: the assessment of grammar, meaning, and pragmatics; cognition and language assessment, and both learning-oriented and scenario-based assessment. He was Editor of Language Assessment Quarterly and Past President of the International Language Testing Association.

Antony John Kunnan is a language assessment specialist currently with Duolingo as a Principal Assessment Scientist and with Carnegie Mellon University, USA, as a Senior Research Fellow. His research interests are fairness of tests and testing practice, assessment literacy, research methods and statistics, ethics and standards, and language assessment policy. He was founding editor of Language Assessment Quarterly, past president of the International Language Testing Association and the founding president of the Asian Association for Language Assessment.